L is for Literature

Finding the right literature curriculum to use in our homeschool has been a somewhat difficult task. I’ve looked at several curriculum choices over the past couple of years trying to find the best one for my kids where they would be exposed to some great classics.

Last year, I had my oldest son go through Everyday Education’s Introduction to Literature. Even though he didn’t like the idea of reading Jane Eyre, he did read through some good classic books and learned a lot. He enjoyed many of the books from this program. One of his assignments was to write his own (short story) version of Animal Farm and he did so well with this assignment by using two well known political people in his story. It was actually a good short version of Animal Farm and showed he understood the meaning of Animal Farm.

My younger son read through Abeka’s Of Places book for his literature last year. This book just had excerpt's of many books and he never was able to get the whole story of any book.

So, this school year, I wanted something that both boys could do together. I did a lot of research and decided to give Hewitt Homeschooling Lightning Literature a try.



I decided on the mid to late 19th-century pack for my boys. It looked like it had some books that my boys would like to read.  After having gone through our first semester with this program, I will say that they have enjoyed going through the different books and learning about the different authors and books. They are learning to write different styles of reports and have done great with the assignments. I plan to use one of the British Literature packs from Hewitt during our next school year.

My oldest daughter started 7th grade this past fall and I wanted to use something different than what I had used for my boys when they were in 7th grade. I looked at different curriculum and decided on three books for her to read this year. She started with Anne of Green Gables from Memoria Press.



For her other two books to read, I decided to use Progeny Press. She is almost done reading Shiloh and will start with Little House in the Big Woods in a couple of weeks. Even though Little House is designed for upper elementary, I think she will enjoy reading the book and doing the study. I am not 100% sure what she will use for 8th grade next year so I may let her choose what books she would like to read and work from there.

With my youngest, I have just been reading grade level chapter books and she has enjoyed them so far. There were a couple that we reviewed (Imagine...The Great Flood and The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls) last year and she is looking forward to hearing more from those series. We also did a review from Progeny Press for her grade level and she enjoyed that one also. As she gets older I will have read books like Charlotte's Web, Little House on the Prairie, etc.

I am linking up with:

The Bears on Hemlock Mountain Study Guide from Progeny Press ~ Review

My older children all have literature books that they will be reading throughout the year. My youngest is in 1st grade this year and she still loves to have stories read to her. I didn’t really have any books picked out for her to listen to and learn about. I was glad to be chosen for The Bears on Hemlock Mountain E-Guide from Progeny Press.

Progeny Press offers many study guides (downloadable and print) for elementary, middle, and high school age. Progeny Press offers study guides for literature from a Christian perspective. They have over 100 E-Guides available (samples of titles in parenthesis) starting with lower elementary (Frog and Toad Together), upper elementary (Charlotte’s Web), middle school (The Giver), and high school (The Hobbit). They also have the same study guides available on CD or a printed workbook.

The Bears on Hemlock Mountain is a  story that was written by Alice Dalgliesh. She wrote this story based on a folk tale that was told to her by a state archivist in Pennsylvania in 1952. There are many variations to the story, but the boy, the iron pot, the mountain, and the bears are all part of the original story and remain unchanged.

The Progeny Press E-Guide about the book The Bears on Hemlock Mountain is geared for the lower elementary range (1st through 3rd grade). The E-Guide gives a brief synopsis about the book, background on the author,and background on the story. There are also several activities to choose from before reading the book. Some of these activities include doing research on animal tacks, listening to bird songs, and tracing a cookie pattern shape to make a border. My daughter said she didn’t know what a bear print looked like, so I found an image of bear tracks and showed it to her. I also had a picture of a bear and the bear print for her to color.

During the review period, I read a couple of chapters a week (the book only has 10 short chapters). After reading the chapters to her, I would go over the questions with her. We spent a whole week reading and going over the questions. Some of the questions she didn’t understand and I would explain those to her. She also needed help with looking up the words in the dictionary and writing the answers down.

We both loved reading through the book and studying more about the book. *Side note: after we were chosen for the book, I went online to see more about the book and after seeing the old book cover I realized I had read this book as a child. I had forgotten about it, so it was fun to re-read it to my daughter.* At this level (1st grade), my daughter needed a lot of help with the study guide portion. She did enjoy going over the questions and learning more about the book. She also liked doing the activities that were listed before and after.  Overall, this is a great study guide and it helps the child learn more about the book and remember the book.

Be sure to click the banner below to read through the other reviews. There are reviews on Macbeth, Charlotte’s Web, The Silver Chair, and The Bears on Hemlock Mountain.